witch trials, which certainly had their numinous dimensions. It is also
debatable in the case of the water test, which grew out of a divine ordeal
without becoming more material in the process. There is also an additional
complication with swimming, as in many cases it was performed at the behest
of those suspected of bewitchment in order to clear their names. We can also
question the statement with regard to those unwitchment rituals in which

Witchcraft and the symbolics of hierarchy in late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century Finland

Raisa Maria Toivo

1
Beyond the witch trials
Marking (dis)order
Marking (dis)order: witchcraft and the symbolics of
hierarchy in late seventeenth- and
early eighteenth-century Finland
Raisa Maria Toivo
What do witchcraft and witch trials tell us about power and social hierarchy?
Witch trials have often enough been explained in terms of social relations
and schisms, particularly in local contexts. In a highly competitive world,
disagreements resulted from and caused both attacks by suspected witches
and accusations made against them. It has often been noted that in Sweden
and

notary – is, therefore, of considerable significance. According to Ong,
‘writing is imitation of speaking’.11 One could add further that it is an
imitation full of ideological and cultural distortions because of the transcription process from oral to literary record. The possibility of authorial
interventions in these denunciations is considerable. We are dealing with
copyists extraneous to the events being orally narrated. Sometimes those
transcribing the denunciations were priests, the local representatives of the
formal and informal power of the Church, with whom